During construction, pipes and tubes are often left partially installed for weeks and months at commercial, residential and other sites. For example, portions of plumbing systems are often installed ahead of concrete pourings of a residence. Delays between construction stages are inevitable. Open ends or stubs of partially installed pipes and tubes are often covered in duct tape or other temporary protective material and left until the remainder of the project can be completed. The temporary protective material is meant to keep the pipe ends free from debris until properly or completely finished.
After a delay, when workers return to finish a project, it is a time-consuming activity to remove the temporary material from each pipe or tube end (stubs). Any duct tape must be adequately removed from each pipe end. Residual tape is often difficult to completely remove from the end of the pipe especially if there is any pipe threading present. Further, the purpose of each pipe must be re-identified so as to determine how to finish the work. For example, one of several pipes may be meant for protection of electric lines while another might be for water, drainage or natural gas.